1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to graphical user interfaces, in particular, to navigation within graphical user interfaces.
2. Description of Related Art
In graphical user interfaces, a display of a system often includes various portions in which various items of information are displayed. These various portions may be in the form of windows. A window may show only a portion of the information. The user may desire to see other portions of the information. For example, a window may display a portion of a document, and the user may desire to see another portion of the document. Prior systems have been developed to allow a user to change the portion of the information that is displayed in some particular portion of the display. One approach has been the use of scroll bars. The scroll bar is a graphical symbol that is displayed at the edge of a portion of the screen in which the item, for example a document, is displayed. The user can cause a different portion of the information to be displayed by properly manipulating the scroll bar. For example, the user may move the cursor to an arrow symbol at the bottom of the scroll bar and then click on a pointing device to cause the document in the display to scroll, so that more of the document is shown in the direction of the arrow. Use of such a scroll bar often requires relatively fine movement of a pointing device to direct the cursor to the desired portion of the scroll bar. A user can move the cursor to another portion of the screen showing other information, such as another window showing another document. The user then may use a scroll bar on that window in order to show other parts of that information.
For example, computer functionality may be integrated with a television system or other system. In such systems, precise movement of a cursor into a scroll bar may be difficult. Further, use of a scroll bar may be slow because the user has to first move the cursor into the proper location of the scroll bar before causing the scrolling to occur